Looking for the newspaper from yesterday, Mrs. Weiss wandered toward the living room in search for that column she missed. I know I left it either on the hallway table or in the living room, she thought, it must be there. The article contained the latest sea navigating technologies that she was sure that her husband, a ship engineer, would love to read. Perhaps this will bring him back on track from his preoccupation of late. As she approached the translucent door to the main salon, sounds, human talking sounds. Shocked at the delightful tone of her middle age husband speaking to an unknown person through the telephone, Mrs. Weiss lost herself and did not know what to think.

"Yes, yes, I know. She is such a wonderful thing! She is small and compact, but there's so much potential in her!" Mr. Weiss chirped excitedly into the phone.

No, how can this be? Mrs. Weiss had no earthly idea who she was and where her husband had met this girl. What was this girl to my husband? She started pacing worriedly, but stopped as she remembered that he might hear her. Who cares about that insignificant clipping; he is probably too involved in her to notice anything else! Crouching down in the corner, she felt the insignificance of her being.

"Of course, never have I seen anything so utterly beautiful. She is absolutely divine! Today, I saw her in the factory and felt my heart throb. The sleekness and her speed impresses me. I'm telling you, nowadays, it isn't often that one faces that kind of charm, especially in the factory!"

Unconsciously, Mrs. Weiss put her worn hands to her face and jerked herself back to reality. The marks of the years were imprinted onto her face. Streams of tears flowed down over those cracks of age, and she told herself that this was all a dream and that it would be over just as quickly as it began.

"The energy and spirit in her is unbelievably lovely to a man of my age! I wish I had the opportunity to be close to her and smell that freshness; I have the desire to touch her, feel the smooth texture of the body. Man, she is the finest creature I've seen in a long time! Why, do you think so, too?"

Astonishment and confusion filled her heart. A pain of thumping and pounding began in her head and pounded into her spirit. Why, oh, why had this happened to me? Why me? She sighed deeply with the wounds of her soul stabbing deeper and deeper as Mr. Weiss kept exclaiming the attraction Ann held for him. I thought I could see him and understand him, but it appears that I do not. Pumping herself up with the remainder of her strength and courage to stand up to face the matter, Mrs. Weiss felt ready to swing open the door and discover the ugly truth of Ann. She slowly set her hand on the brass door handles reflecting her bewildered face, and heard the last words of her husband as he closed the conversation, "When do you think that they'll put that engine on Ann so we can see her run? It'll be smooth!"

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